


Hard To Swallow

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Prompt Table [11]
Category: Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six
Genre: Josh is a serial killer, M/M, Oli and Max are police, references to rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:46:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They don't want to talk to him, but if they don't, more people will die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard To Swallow

**Author's Note:**

> Number 25: Murder
> 
> I have no idea where the hell this idea came from. I seem to be getting a lot of weird and downright creepy ideas lately.

As the coroner pulls back the sheet, Detective Inspector Helyer swears softly.

“Damnit. Castrated, jaw dislocated, genitals lodged in the esophagus. The exact same way he used to do it,” he confirms, and his partner, Oliver sighs.

“So, a copycat, then. It can’t be him, I had them check, he’s still in his cell in Strangeways,” Oli insists, and Max groans. 

“We’re going to have to visit him,” he announces, and Oli looks baffled.

“Why the fuck would we do that?” He asks, and Max points to the victim’s neck.

“There’s a chunk bitten out, just behind the ear. That detail was never released,” he points out, and Oli deflates. He’d rather not go near the creepy fucker, but he’s not going to leave Max to go on his own.

As they follow the guard through the cell block, he gives them instructions.

“Don’t sit right up to the table. The chairs have been moved back a few feet, leave them there. He’s handcuffed to the table, but that hasn’t stopped him in the past. Don’t give him anything; pen, pencil, paper clip, nothing. Don’t take anything from him, either. Don’t tell him any personal details about yourselves, this guy’s good at getting into your head, don’t give him the chance,” he finishes as they come to the door of the visitor’s room, and he turns to them with a grim expression. “Good luck. You’re going to need it,” with that, he opens the door and steps back, allowing them to enter.

Josh Franceschi doesn’t look how one would expect, considering his reputation. After hearing everything he’s done, you’d be forgiven for expecting a wild animal, but Josh looks perfectly normal as they sit down, the chairs pulled five feet back from the table.

“Has Officer Grey been warning you about me? I do wish he’d stop that, it’s very rude, don’t you think?” He asks pleasantly, a small smile on his face as he looks between the two of them.

“Not as ‘rude’ as castrating and murdering twenty young men,” Oli snarks, and Josh snorts.

“You only found twenty of them? My dear, you really must try harder,” Josh mocks, and they both scowl.

“That’s not why we’re here. Someone’s been copying your murders, and they know details that only you and the police know. We need to know who you’ve been talking to,” Max informs him, and Josh’s polite smile turns into a wicked smirk.

“Do you have photos from the crime scene with you?” He asks, and Max shifts uneasily as he nods. “May I see them?” He requests, and Max hesitates, then turns and catches the attention of one of the guards standing outside the door. He holds up the folder, then points to Josh, silently questioning. The guard nods, and Max stands, getting only as close to the table as he needs to, dropping the folder on the table and quickly stepping back to his chair.

Josh quirks an eyebrow and gives him an amused smile as he pulls the folder towards himself, opens it, and starts flicking through the photos. He studies them leisurely, and when he’s done, he carefully organises them into a neat pile, in the order they were in when he was given them, puts them back in the folder, which he then sets on the table, then he starts laughing. Quietly at first, but it quickly gets louder, until it’s booming, maniacal, and it’s drawn the guards from outside, both looking terrified as they aim their tasers at him.

“What the hell did you do?!” One of them asks, eyes wide as he stares at Josh, who’s out of breath as he throws his head back, laughing in sheer glee.

“All we did was show him the photos from the copycat killings,” Oli tells them, hesitating when Josh tries to talk through his laughter.

They wait patiently until he’s calm enough to talk.

“You’ll never catch him,” he gloats, grinning gleefully, and they both glare at him.

“You know who it is?” Oli demands, and Josh’s grin widens.

“Of course I do. You never will, though,” he informs him, and Oli sighs. They were hoping they wouldn’t have to resort to this. He pulls another folder from his bag and throws it onto the table.

Josh looks mildly offended, but picks up the folder anyway, looks through it for a minute, then looks back up at Oli, eyebrow raised questioningly.

“What is this?” He asks stiffly, and Oli smiles grimly.

“Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital. Tell us what you know, and we can arrange to have you transferred there. You’ll still be at the highest security level, but you’ll have a bit more freedom. The guards said you complain about not having a window?” He pauses, and Josh nods. “We can make sure you get a room with a window, it’s in Berkshire, there’s some stunning countryside around the hospital, so you’d have a hell of a view,” he tempts, and Josh seems to be considering it for a few moments.

Finally, he raises burning, rage filled eyes to meet Oli’s.

“Do you think I’m an idiot, Detective Inspector?” He hisses, and Oli gulps. Now, now he looks like a sadistic serial killer, and somehow, Oli’s sure those handcuffs wouldn’t keep him held down for long if he tried.

“What makes you ask that?” He asks, instead of answering, the blood draining from his face as Josh gives him a feral smile.

“We both know that no matter what I tell you, there’s no chance in hell of me ever being transferred to that place. They would never risk it. So either you are an idiot, or you think I am, so which is it?” He snarls, and Oli fights to keep his breathing even as he reaches down into his bag, pulls out a sheaf of paper and puts it on the table.

“The whole deal, approved and signed by the Commissioner. It’s not a trick, no-one thinks you’re an idiot. If you help us with this, you’ll be transferred, we won’t go back on it, I promise,” he insists, and Josh mulls it over. 

“I can keep this, as proof?” He asks, and Oli nods.

“Yeah, that’s your copy. We have one for our records, and so does the Commissioner’s office,” he reassures him, and Josh thinks about it for a minute longer, then smirks.

“I’ll tell you, only if I can add one thing to the deal,” he bargains, and Max raises an eyebrow.

“Depends what it is,” he tells him, and his smirk widens as he turns sparkling eyes on Oli.

“You tell me who Tom is,” he requests, and Oli frowns in confusion. “You have his name tattooed on your hand, he must be important to you, who is he?” He elaborates, and Oli almost tells him, until one of the guards clears his throat and shakes his head. Right, no personal information. He’d forgotten Officer Grey had said that. “Hmm, I guess you’ll never find your killer, then. Too bad,” Josh muses, sitting back in his chair with a look of disinterest.

“He’s my brother,” the words leave his mouth before he realises, but they need to find this guy, so he doesn’t try to fix it. Josh sits forward with a grin.

“Older or younger?” He prompts, and Oli sighs. If this is what he has to do to get a name, he’ll do it.

“Younger… A little less than three years,” he answers, elaborating when Josh silently prompts him.

“Hmm, you look about twenty four, twenty five, maybe, so he’d be about twenty one, twenty two?” Josh ponders, and Oli silently groans to himself.

“He’s twenty four, for a few more months, at least,” he corrects, and Josh grins.

“You ever think about fucking him? Hurting him? Holding him down, forcing yourself into him, listening to him cry and beg?” Josh leers, and Oli lurches out of his chair, ready to kill the fucker, but Max grabs him, dragging him back into his chair.

“No, I fucking haven’t, you sick fuck,” Oli snarls, and Josh smirks.

“David Flint,” the name slips softly from him, almost purred in satisfaction.

“What?” Max demands, and Josh’s smirk widens.

“You’re looking for David Flint. Run along, now,” he laughs, and they both get up and leave, Oli still fuming silently.

As soon as they get into the car, Oli pulls out his phone. While Max drives, Oli phones the office and tells them the name, then phones his brother. Logically, he knows Tom’s fine, but Josh managed to rattle him badly, he has to be sure. Once Oli hangs up his phone; Tom’s fine, thank god; he sinks into his seat with a sigh, and Max glances at him from the corner of his eye.

“Don’t let him get to you, the guy’s fucked in the head,” he reassures him, and Oli huffs.

“It was my own fault, I shouldn’t have told him,” he sighs, and Max shrugs one shoulder.

“Yeah, but if you hadn’t, he never would have given us the name, and Tom’s fine, so what harm did it do?” He reasons, and Oli nods tiredly. Max does have a point.

As soon as they get back to the office, Jordan strides over to them.

“He’s killed another one,” he announces, and they gape at him.

“You’re sure?” Oli checks, and Jordan nods, handing him a folder.  
“Matt Barnes, nineteen year old student, found in an alleyway just off Empire Street in the early hours of this morning, castrated, jaw dislocated, genitals lodged in his throat, same as the others,” he rattles off, and they both swear.

“Fuck, Tom knows him,” Oli realises, and though he knows he’s probably being irrational, it feels like a threat.

“Franceschi didn’t even know we were after his mate last night, there’s no way it was intentional,” Max reassures him, frowning deeply. “Where it was, on the other hand, that’s definitely a message,” he comments, and they both frown at him. “Empire Street, it’s two streets away from Strangeways. There’s no way it’s a coincidence,” he tells them, and they both nod.

Jordan motions for them to follow him over to his desk.

“I’ve been looking for this David Flint. There’s none from around here, so I thought, ‘hey, Franceschi’s from Surrey’, so I checked there instead,” he tells them, and they both nod.

“So you found him?” Max asks, and Jordan shakes his head.

“Nope. There’s two David Flints listed in Surrey. One’s a ninety three year old with Alzheimer’s, the other died four and a half years ago,” he tells them regretfully, and they both sigh. Oli gets an idea, though.

“What about their families? It could be a hint, like ‘I won’t give you the real answer, but here’s something close to it’, kinda thing,” he suggests, and Jordan nods, clicking around for a minute, then nods.

“The one that died has a son, Daniel. He has a record, mostly assaults, GBH, seems like Franceschi’s type,” he confirms, writing down the address and giving it to them, so they can send officers to pick up Dan Flint.

When they walk into the interrogation room, Dan has that same unnerving calmness that Josh had. They don’t let it phase them as they sit across the table from him.

“Where were you between midnight and three AM last night?” Max asks, frowning when Dan cocks his head to the side in confusion.

“At home, in bed, like a normal person. Why?” He asks, and Max’s frown turns to a glare. He pulls the crime scene photos from their folder and slams them down on the table, sneering as Dan closes his eyes and turns his head, looking disgusted.

“Matt Barnes, nineteen, he was a student at the University of Manchester. He was training to be a nurse. According to Josh Franceschi, you did this, and this,” he pauses, pulling out the photos from the other crime scenes. “Louis Tomlinson, he was seventeen; Chris Miller, twenty; Alex Gaskarth, twenty; Niall Horan, sixteen; Zack Merrick, eighteen; and Jack Barakat, eighteen,” he lists, slamming photo after photo onto the table. “And I think you were involved with Franceschi’s murders, too, weren’t you?” He snarls, and Dan whimpers slightly.

“Please stop. I have no idea what you’re talking about, I swear,” he whispers, making Max sneer at him, but Oli’s hand on his arm stops him.

Oli gathers up the photos and returns them to the folder, sitting a copy of Josh’s mugshot on the table instead.

“Have you ever met him?” He asks, and Dan slowly opens his eyes, sighing in relief when he realises the gory photos are gone. He leans forward, looking at the mugshot for a minute, then shakes his head.

“I recognise him from the news, but I don’t think I’ve ever met him,” he murmurs, and Max sighs.

“Then why did he know your name? Hell, how did he know your dad’s name?” He growls, and Dan hesitates, sitting back as a feral grin slips onto his face.

“It was worth a try. Hell, I think I had your partner going, for a minute there,” he grins, and they both glare at him.

“How many more are there? Franceschi was… Amused that we’d only found twenty of his victims. How about you tell us about the rest of them? And your little spree, did we even find all of your victims?” Max demands, and Dan laughs softly.

“Shit, you only found twenty? Damn, you need to up your game,” he chuckles, and Oli snarls wordlessly.

“How many?!” He roars, but Dan doesn’t even flinch.

“Well over a hundred,” he tells them slowly, relishing every word. “And that’s not including the two dozen or so of mine you haven’t found,” he gloats, and Max stands up.

“Right, we’re done here,” he snaps, storming from the room, Oli hot on his heels.

Later that night, the two of them are combing through missing persons reports, looking for anyone who fits Josh and Dan’s preferences, when Jordan rushes into the room.

“Franceschi escaped,” he announces as soon as he’s close enough, and they both stand up.

“How?” Oli demands, and Jordan grimaces.

“Complained of chest pains, when the guard went into his cell, he… ripped half the guy’s face off with his teeth. They went into lockdown when they heard the screams, but he’s gone,” he tells them reluctantly, and Max feels sick.

They go down to the holding cells, assuming Dan will know where Josh has gone. As soon as they get out of the lift, they know something’s wrong. It’s deathly quiet, and the smell of blood is suffocating. They cover their faces with their sleeves and pull out their guns, moving slowly and silently to the corner. Max quietly counts to three and they turn the corner, gagging almost instantly. There’s blood all over the walls along most of the hallway, and Max assumes the mangled lump of flesh and clothing on the floor is what’s left of the officer that was guarding Dan.

They start backing up to the lift, eyes scanning every shadow, just in case, when Oli’s phone rings. He hesitates for a second, then pulls it out. He doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or not when he sees Tom’s name on the screen. As they step back into the lift, he answers it and lifts it to his ear. Before he can say anything, he hears something that makes the colour drain from his face. Max and Jordan give him concerned looks, and he lowers the phone from his ear, putting it on speaker.

“I got your brother, I’m gonna fuck him, and then I’ll kill him,” Josh’s sing-song voice fills the lift, Tom’s whimpers just audible in the background. They hear Dan mumble something intelligible, and Tom starts sobbing, pleading desperately. “Don’t tell me that doesn’t turn you on, Detective Inspector,” Josh taunts, and Oli snarls.

“I’m going to find you, and I’m going to fucking kill you,” he growls, hanging up and sprinting out of the lift as the doors open. Max and Jordan run after him as he runs into an office, throwing his mobile at Lee.

“Trace the last call, quickly,” he chokes out, and Lee spins his chair around, typing rapidly as soon as his fingers find the keyboard.

Within a few minutes, he has the address. Oli snatches it from him and runs back to the lift, ignoring Max’s shouts for him to wait for an Armed Response Team. Max sighs and runs after him, just managing to dart into the lift before the doors slide closed.

Within ten minutes, they’re outside the disused warehouse, creeping towards the door with their guns raised. The quiet approach is thrown out the window when a scream echoes from inside, and Oli slams through the door, looking around wildly. The main room is empty, but they definitely know they’re there now. They can hear Josh’s voice.

“Cry for him. Cry for your brother. Let him hear you,” he’s cooing tauntingly as they follow his voice to a large storeroom. The door is wide open when they reach it, and they can smell blood as they creep into the room.

Oli can’t help the sob that slips out when he sees Tom. He’s lying on the floor, naked, covered in his own blood, his head in Josh’s lap as Josh coos mockingly to him, trembling as he sobs brokenly. They both raise their guns, but freeze when they hear two guns cocking right behind them, as the cold metal of a barrel presses to the base of each of their skulls.

“Drop them and kick them away,” Dan instructs calmly, pressing the guns to their heads a little harder when they hesitate. Oli hold up his hands to show that he’s putting the safety on, then drops it, kicking it across the room. Max quickly follows suit, and Dan moves his guns down to their backs. “In you go,” he prompts, nudging them, and they do as they’re told, walking slowly until they’re beside Josh and Tom. “On your knees,” as soon as his knees touch the floor, Oli starts to crawl over to Tom, but Dan’s boot on his back stops him.

Dan doesn’t say anything, just kicks Oli in the gut until he moves back.

“I’m so glad you told me about him, Detective Inspector. We’ve had so much fun while we were waiting for you. I just knew when you told me about him, that he’d be soft and tight, that he’d struggle. I love it when they try to fight it,” Josh tells him casually, and Oli lurches forward, only to immediately be kicked back by Dan.

“I’m sorry, Tommy, I’m so sorry. I thought you were safe,” he sobs, but Tom just stares back at him blankly, totally broken.

Josh grins evilly as he slides his hand into Tom’s hair, drawing a small pained whine from him as he clenches his hand and uses it to pull Tom up. He keeps his eyes locked with Oli’s as he lowers his mouth to Tom’s neck, just below his ear, and bites down, moaning lowly as Tom screams. He lets Tom drop back to the floor as he chews the mouthful of flesh, blood running down his chin onto his neck.

“How’s he taste, baby?” Dan leers from behind them, and Max feels like he might vomit as Josh hums happily.

“Amazing, come try some,” he insists, making Tom sob weakly.

“Please, I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt him anymore, please,” Oli begs helplessly as Dan kneels down beside Josh, handing him one of the guns and pulling Tom up. They ignore Oli as Dan takes a bite from the other side of Tom’s neck, going back and biting into the wound until Tom’s screams taper off as he loses consciousness.

Bored with Tom now that he’s unconscious, Josh drags Max by the hair until he’s kneeling between the two of them. Dan holds Tom’s neck to Max’s mouth, trying to force him to take a bite, but he keeps his mouth clamped shut, struggling against Josh’s hand on the back of his neck. Finally, Josh pulls him back and smirks.

“That’s a shame. You would’ve lived longer if you’d just done it,” he muses, and Max doesn’t have time to be scared before Josh sinks his teeth into Max’s throat, jaws on either side of his windpipe. Thankfully, Max dies before Josh’s jaws meet.

Oli watches in horror as Josh drops Max’s body on top of Tom, chewing thoughtfully. After a minute or so, Josh grimaces, leaning forward and holding Tom’s mouth open as he spits the chunk of Max’s throat into it.

“No good?” Dan asks lightly, playing with Josh’s hair, smiling when Josh pulls a face and shakes his head.

“Too chewy,” he announces, then leans forward and kisses Dan hotly.

When they break apart, Josh grins.

“Much better,” he chirps, then turns to Oli with a sadistic smile.

“Whatever you’re going to do to us, just get over with quickly, please,” Oli begs, and they smirk at each other. It takes them hours to die. 

When Jordan finds them the next morning, they have a chunk bitten out of both sides of their necks, their jaws are dislocated, they’ve been castrated, and their genitals are lodged in their throats. Wait… No, the coroner realises, they have each other’s genitals forced into their throats.

None of this matters, though, not to Jordan. Because Josh and Dan are long gone, and they’ll probably never surface again.


End file.
